According to what the title-track seems to suggest, artifacts are mementos of our past that transcend time and carnal fragility. It\u2019s an ironic contemplation because, musically speaking, this album really feels like a treasure chest of emotions that transcended time and circumstance. Yes because Overtures have here crafted an album that boasts a powerful balance of compositional skills, musicianship and emotive intensity that cries for attention. Well they\u2019ve got mine, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n

One of the first things to strike me is the superb quality of the vocals. Michele Guaitoli, Overtures\u2019 lead singer, has the finesse and grace of Geoff Tate (Queensryche) and Roy Khan (Conception, Kamelot). Like those two peers, he uses a dramatic singing style that shifts from power to subtlety with impressive ease.<\/p>\n

On guitars, Marco Falanga never gets carried away but songs such as \u2018Repentance\u2019 clearly showcase his technical skills. Then there are the keyboards which are used very effectively in embellishing some of the songs but without being made to feel obtrusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cArtifacts\u201d lies somewhere between Prog Metal, Hard Rock and Power Metal. The music is melodic with a tendency for strong choruses. A perfect example is the anthemic \u2018Gold\u2019. Or even \u2018Teardrop\u2019, a 10-minute-plus song with some excellent orchestral sounds and female vocals. Pity about some uncomfortable vocal effects within it. \u2018As Candles we Burn\u2019 has a solid rhythm section but together with \u2018New Dawn, New Dusk\u2019 is probably my least favourite song, but that\u2019s only because the rest of the album leaves me awestruck. I\u2019m thinking, in particular, of the aforementioned \u2018Teardrops\u2019 and \u2018Angry Animals\u2019. Speaking of which…\u2018Angry Animals\u2019 is the album\u2019s heaviest track with some great riffs and with Guaitoli in particularly fine form.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m smitten by this album. \u201cArtifacts\u201d should be Overtures\u2019 stairway to stardom.<\/p>\n

Michele Guaitoli: vocals<\/div>\n
Marco Falanga: guitars<\/div>\n
Luka Klanjscek: bass<\/div>\n
Andrea Cum: drums<\/div>\n
\u00a0‘Unshared Worlds’ lyric video:<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tracklist:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>01. Repentance<\/div>\n<div>02. Artifacts<\/div>\n<div>03. Gold<\/div>\n<div>04. As candles we burn<\/div>\n<div>05. Profiled<\/div>\n<div>06. Unshared worlds<\/div>\n<div>07. My Refuge <em>(feat. Paolo Campitelli on keyboards)<\/em><\/div>\n<div>08. New dawn, new dusk<\/div>\n<div>09. Teardrop <em>(feat. Marco Pastorino, Caterina Piccolo on vocals & Paolo Campitelli on keyboards)<\/em><\/div>\n<div>10. Angry Animals<\/div>\n<div>11. Saviour \u2013 Alternative version<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0.<\/div>\n<div><strong>Playing time: <\/strong>57:16<\/div>\n<div>.<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Release date: <\/strong>27th May 2016<\/p>\n<p><strong>Label: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sleaszyrider.com\/html\/store.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Sleaszy Rider<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Website: <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OverturesMetal\" target=\"_blank\">www.facebook.com\/OverturesMetal<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>According to what the title-track seems to suggest, artifacts are mementos of our past that transcend time and carnal fragility. It\u2019s an ironic contemplation because, musically speaking, this album really feels like a treasure chest <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/reviews\/overtures-artifacts\" title=\"Overtures – Artifacts\">[Read \u00bb]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":7908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1141,14,1140,9,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-7899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reviews","8":"tag-artifacts","9":"tag-hard-rock","10":"tag-overtures","11":"tag-power-metal","12":"tag-progressive-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7899"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7916,"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7899\/revisions\/7916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsite.powerofmetal.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}